The Australian government will impose stricter regulations on the buy now, pay later (BNPL) industry amid concerns about high risks to vulnerable groups in society. In his speech to the Responsible Lending and Borrowing Summit on May 22, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones announced that the federal government would change the law to regulate BNPL…

Americans are increasingly turning to buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps to purchase their daily needs amid sky-high inflation, according to a new survey. BNPL options allow consumers to pay for purchases in installments. A new LendingTree survey shows that about 46 percent of consumers used BNPL this year, up from 43 percent a year ago…

Commentary With any looming recession, household debt is one of the clearest indicators of its severity. Unlike the 2008 crisis, household debt is mostly manageable this time, but the picture worsens as inflation remains high. A burgeoning but often overlooked source of household debt resides in “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) apps. These apps fall…

Chances are that your “buy now, pay later” bill from the holiday season will arrive soon or has already made its debut. If you’re not financially prepared to pay up, late fees or other charges can bury you deeper in debt. Circumstances can change over a matter of weeks through financial setbacks like unemployment, an…

Shoppers who used “buy now pay later” to help finance gifts this holiday season may soon encounter an unwelcome surprise: Returns can be more challenging than when buying from the store with cash or a credit card. Returns and disputes are a common concern among buy now, pay later users, according to a September 2022…

Book a flight or hotel room now, and pay it off later? It’s an increasingly common trend in travel spending. Companies like American Airlines, United Airlines and vacation rental website Vacasa now offer the option to make reservations now and pay it back incrementally over time with “buy now, pay later” services. Between 2020 and…

At first glance, a “buy now, pay later” plan’s promise of no interest or upfront fees can seem more appealing than a credit card’s terms. Dividing a transaction into, say, a pay-in-four installment plan sounds straightforward and manageable. Unlike credit cards, though, these plans lack certain consumer protections and are sometimes unpredictable. In this way,…

Sales during Cyber Monday 2022 were $11.3 billion. That’s a 5.7 percent increase from 2021. It also outperformed Black Friday 2022. And even though many of those cyber sales were funded by credit cards, and “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) financing played a big role—it was up 88 percent week over week. This particular financing…

The Australian government is looking to tighten the regulation of the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) sector as it hopes to stop more customers from falling into dire financial straits. Speaking to Nine Network on Nov. 21, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said the BNPL industry could be subject to the same regulation as the…

By Emma Patch From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Propelled by inflation and the pandemic-driven convenience of online shopping, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services have become as commonplace as hand sanitizer in a shop entryway. Since 2018, the number of BNPL users in the United States has grown by more than 300 percent per year, according…